I hated to do it

But I can only stand so much crawling around on the ground underneath a horse combing out foxtail stickers with a fine-toothed comb. Every year at this time when I let the horses back on pasture, Gwen turns into a foxtail magnet because of her "feathers." (no problem with Shylah). I worry about the stickers burrowing into the legs, so I have to really stay on top of combing the darn things out, which is a huge pain and takes a long time. And every year I grumble "maybe I should just shave her." But *gasp* what a thing to do to a draft horse (well, half of one anyway!) Those feathers are a distinguishing feature! But yesterday I decided I'd had enough, so I took a scissors and chopped them off, and then borrowed a clippers from my neighbor and today I proceded to shave her. That was an adventure, Gwen has probably never seen a clippers before so she was about ready to run for the hills or climb the barn or something. But with a lot of time and coaxing I convinced her that I was not going to kill her or cut off anything vital, and then it was easy. She stood still like she'd been clipped a million times before, gave me no trouble at all.

So I hated to do it but I'm glad I did, this'll keep her foxtail free over the summer. It'll grow back. I DO miss her old look though! It's not a great trim by any stretch of the imagination, but it's functional and not cosmetic. I've never clipped a horse before, so this was new for both of us!

Beforehand.. feathers, glorious feathers!



After the scissor-trim.

Can you see all the foxtails embedded in there? Ugh! I can't believe how dense that hair is!

All done! The mare has legs, who knew it? :-)




Oh, and her spirits have greatly improved since being turned out again and she's put on weight, so I think she was just depressed. :-)